


Survivors

by Ironlegionaire



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Air Nomad Genocide (Avatar), Air Nomads (Avatar), Airbending & Airbenders, Gen, Surviving Air Nomad Descendants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-05-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24404026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ironlegionaire/pseuds/Ironlegionaire
Summary: Despite the fire nations best efforts, they couldn't manage to catch them all...
Comments: 4
Kudos: 134





	Survivors

The first one came about two weeks after the war. He was in a small Fire Nation colony and had just finished dealing with some fighting between some Earth Kingdom folk and a group of firebenders. After settling the dispute he’d gone looking at a display of jewelry for a gift for Katara.

“Excuse me. Are you Avatar Aang?”

He turned around and saw a fire nation woman with black hair and wearing a red dress looking at him nervously.

“Yes I am” Aang said with slight confusion. “Do you need my help?”

The woman gripped her arm with worry but then took a deep breath and said. “No. But I think I might be able to help you.”

She then held out her hand and began making swirling motions with her pointer finger until a small vortex of wind formed in her palm. 

Aangs eyes exploded open.

The woman started talking about her great grandmother and how she’d fled her home in the western air temple and been sheltered by some helpful fire nation folks but by the middle of the story Aang’s ears were no longer registering the word as one thought rang through his head

_He wasn’t alone_.

Soon more came out of the woodwork and they all had their own stories to tell about their ancestors. Stories of an air nomad who’d flown away from the destruction of their home and hidden in the farthest part of the South Pole. Of an airbender who’d been in Ba Sing Se during the attacks on the temple and stayed in the city as it was one of the few safe places for him in the world. One particularly inspiring tale of a fire nation soldier who’d been assigned to attack the temple smuggling a baby back to the fire nation and raising the child as a kind of penance for his crime against her people.

All in all there ended up being about fifty of them total, ranging in age from a small chubby cheeked four year old to a grey haired old woman that reminded him of Katara and Sokka’s gran-gran. Only about twenty-two of them were airbenders but after so long believing he was the only one he would’ve been happy with even just one. 

Due to the war few of them practiced his peoples culture completely but he found that many of the Air Nomad survivors had passed a few traditions onto their descendants. One survivors relative, a waterbender, discussed how her great grandmas philosophies on non-violence and peace had inspired her to become a healer and medic. An Earth kingdom family displayed their dance performance that was based on the leaf like movements airbenders were taught during training. One farmer even recounted how his air nomad grandmother had gotten his entire family on a vegetarian diet for two generations. All the small ways his people had shared what little of their customs they could. Some even had artifacts. One old woman presented him with a set of airbender prayer beads her mother had managed to save from her temple and he nearly broke into tears at the sight. 

Many of them were actually interested in exploring their heritage, even the non-airbenders. They joined the ranks of his air acolytes and while they weren’t quite willing to adhere to all of the traditions, such as some of them still eating meat or some of the men not wanting to shave their heads, they all put the effort into learning about the ways of their elders. Their differences were also showed in clothes. While they were willing to wear the usual red and yellow air acolyte robes some added their own personal touches to them. A whale tooth necklace here, an earthbender hat there. One Fire Nation woman wore a decadent golden phoenix necklace with her robes that Aang was sure would’ve made the old nuns faint if they were around to see it. But no matter how they dressed or acted they were his people so he tried to keep an open mind.

Zuko offered reparations from the Fire Nation to all the families of survivors. Some took them, others refused either due to not feeling it was due or a dislike of the fire nation. They still carried both the sting of what had happened to their ancestors and pain at the torment caused by the Fire Nation over the years.

Years later in Reublic city, a painting of Avatar Aang along with all fifty of the Air Nomad survivor descendants was hung in the Air Nomad section of the Four Nations Cultural History Museum, Beneath the portrait is one simple caption.

**They lived on.**


End file.
